@GJ, you need not wait for SIECC to update the pics, i have some pics as i went to visit Udhyog today and although the work outside convention centre still seems incomplete and seems that they have inaugurated for udhyog only, still good work by SGCCI officials, the convention centre is good for city like Surat and the interiors of it are also very good. I hope they complete the other phases as fast as their Phase-1. But i think they could have made it bigger as the previous Udhyog's were on bigger scale if i am not wrong on big Vanita Vishram ground.
Here are some pics.

The parking was temporary, i think they will install those good looking paver blocks afterwards, except the convention centre all was just uneven ground so lot of work has to be done.

SURAT: Described as a sparkling jewel in the crown of world's biggest diamond cutting and polishing centre, the state-of-the-art jewellery training institute, known as City Centre' of Indian Diamond Institute (IDI), is scheduled to be inaugurated by this month-end. This will be another big event for the city, which witnessed inauguration of Gujarat's first International Exhibition and Convention Centre on Friday.

Built at a cost of Rs 12 crore at Vesu, City Centre will be equipped with modern technologies to train students to meet the aspirations of fast emerging jewellery industry in the city.

"It's a jewel in the crown of the glittering diamond hub. The main focus of this world-class centre is to create the necessary skilled workforce for the rapidly progressing jewellery trade. We have set a target to train more than 4,000 jewellery artisans in the next three years," said executive director, IDI, KK Sharma.

It's widely believed that had it not been for Surat's polished diamonds, studded jewellery would have remained a privilege for the affluent. With the small commercial quality diamonds, of which 100 per cent are at present processed in India, it's possible to manufacture moderately priced studded gold jewellery for the world market, Sharma said.

Sources said IDI is catering to the need of training for jewellery trade and industry, but capacity being limited for want of space and infrastructure, nothing much can be done. Secondly, the upcoming Jewellery Park at Ichhapore in the city will require a large pool of skilled workforce. Thus, City Centre will create the necessary skilled workforce required to take Surat's jewellery industry at new heights.

Recently, the state government had recognised IDI as the anchor institute' for designing new courses aimed at jewellery manufacturing and design for aspiring youths planning to enter the field of jewellery manufacturing in the state.

For the first time in country, IDI will be introducing gold assaying course. None of the institutes in the country runs the gold assaying courses.

Sharma said, "City Centre will give an impetus to the jewellery sector in the city. It's an anomalous situation where India exports Rs 55,000 crore worth of polished diamonds, its share in the studded jewellery exports is very negligible."

As i visit Vesu area daily, since few days i was seeing one property which was good looking and that seemed to be an institute, i thought that it might be a commerce college i had in my mind, however on a round with my architect i came to know that its IDI institute as i never knew that they are building something in Vesu. It looks very good and i must say they have done some good work, its near to my site so i will post some pics very soon.

Must say, 2010 seems to have loads of surprises for Surat, especially public infrastructure, 1st it was Science centre in end 2009, then the International Convention centre and now this, i dont know whats in store in next 9months.
Hope for the best.

SURAT: For the first time in the history of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI), the mega industrial exhibition 'Udyog-2010' organised at the newly-constructed Surat International Exhibition and Convention Centre (SIECC), has registered business turnover of a whopping Rs 250 crore in the last five days.

Udyog-2010, a biannual signature event of the SGCCI being held for the past seven years, is touted as one of the big industrial exhibitions in the country that offers an unrivalled opportunity for exploring business potentials in the textile and engineering sectors. The main focus of the exhibition this year was to promote development of man-made textile and embroidery industries by introducing cutting edge technology.

On display were hi-tech embroidery machines from China, Taiwan, US, Korea and Switzerland and cutting edge technology in water-jet machines and modern textile ancillary products and engineering equipment. "The Udyog-2010 event at SIECC has received a huge response from the business community in Surat. There were visitors from across the state as well as from Punjab, Maharashtra, Delhi etc.," said Nilesh Mandlewala, president of SGCCI.

At the closing ceremony organised at SIECC, Mandlewala said, "The success of Udyog-2010 is due to the fact that it was a show of the people and by the people'. More than 65,000 people visited the exhibition in the last five days."

Paresh Patel, chairman of SGCCI's exhibition committee, said, "The success of Udyog-2010 is beyond our imagination. Even a small exhibitor has earned an average business turnover of Rs 1.5 crore in the last five days. Since the SIECC is 7 kms from the city, the exhibition saw only genuine buyers from the textile, embroidery and engineering sectors."

SURAT: The city of diamonds and textiles is set to add yet another feather in its cap by 2011. ABG Shipyard Limited, country's largest private shipbuilder with its facility at Magdalla, is setting up Gujarat's first state-of-the-art maritime institute on a sprawling 12 hectare land at Ichhapore.

The Rs 50 crore maritime institute construction work will begin from Monday will be ready by the end of 2010. Aspiring students from Gujarat and neighbouring states have an opportunity to shape their career in marine shipbuilding and engineering.

"We intend to start degree and diploma courses from the next academic session in 2011. In the first three years, the institute is expected to churn out more than 4,000 students," said Subas Gantayat, associate vice-president of ABG Shipyard Ltd. In the initial phase, the degree and diploma courses would have a batch of 60 students each. Thus, the institute will churn out about 1,500 maritime students annually.

According to Gantayat, it will be a specialised campus for marine engineering and shipbuilding. The institute will offer degree and diploma courses in marine shipbuilding, marine engineering, port and harbour management and mechanical with fabrication technology. The faculty for imparting the various marine-related courses have been finalised.

"Gujarat is high on the harbour and port management activities. As per the CRISIL report, the state is likely to handle about 40 per cent of the country's cargo by 2020. There is a huge potential for the budding youths to enter the field of maritime technology," said Gantayat.

Sources said the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is handling more than 110 MMT of cargo per year, which is 20 per cent of the total national cargo. By 2011, the state is expected to handle more than 32 per cent of the national cargo with about 50 per cent of the manufacturing facilities in the state along its 1,600 km coastline. However, there is a severe dearth of professionals in marine and shipbuilding activities.

FOSTTA urges pvt airlines to start services from city

Quote:

SURAT: While the city of diamonds and textile is yet to get more flights to other domestic destinations despite its state-of-the-art airport facilities, the trade and industry bodies have begun to take up the issue with non-scheduled operators to start their flight services from Surat.

Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) has urged all major non-scheduled flight operators in the country to extend their domestic services in Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Surat in order to facilitate the air travellers in diamond and textile hub of Surat.

In a letter to Kingfisher, Jet Airways, Go Air, Indigo etc, FOSTTA said the city of diamonds and textile is the economic capital of Gujarat with the population likely to cross 50 lakh in the next couple of years. The city has got a state-of-the-art airport equipped with facilities to cater to domestic as well as international air traffic, yet there is only one flight between Surat and Delhi.

The FOSTTA office-bearers said there are more than 50,000 textile shops and some 400 textile processing units in Surat. Textile traders and others related to the industry frequently visit destinations like Delhi, Kolkata, Punjab, Mumbai, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chennai etc for their business.

FOSTTA president Devkishan Manghani said, "We have given a written assurance to private airline companies that maximum air travel bookings will be done for some of the important destinations from Surat. We have expressed our desire to start special bus services for ferrying air travellers to Surat airport."

According to Manghani, most of the private airline companies are reluctant to start their services from Surat fearing a poor passenger traffic. But, Surat-Delhi flight operated by Indian is a good example for private airlines as the average daily occupancy is more than 70 per cent as Surtis do not mind spending Rs 7,500 on a single trip, Manghani added.

Royal Orchid plans hotels in V’dara, Surat

Quote:

Ahmedabad: Bangalorebased hospitality group Royal Orchid is set to expand its footprint in Gujarat. The company plans to open one hotel each in Vadodara and Surat as part of its strategy to double the number of hotels in the country over the next one year.
“Royal Orchid Hotels (ROH) has chalked out a Rs 500-crore investment plan for calendar year 2010 to expand its presence in India to take the count to 20 from the current 13,” said Chender Baljee, chairman and managing director of the company. The company had raised funds through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2006 to fund its expansion plans.
“Just few months ago a four-star category hotel Royal Orchid Central became operational in Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs 42 crore. Now, we are opening a budget hotel on Race Course Road in Vadodara. We are scouting for land for another greenfield project in Surat,” said Baljee.
He said that recently the company had taken a heritage property on lease near Mysore from Karnataka government. “We are also looking at heritage properties in Gujarat to run a hotel on management contract basis,” he added.
ROH owns five hotels in Bangalore, two in Pune and one each in Ahmedbad, Mysore, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Goa. Five more hotels are almost on the verge of completion in Navi Mumbai, Jaipur, Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad. The company is also expanding overseas as it is developing a Rs 100-crore beach resort project in Tanzania on 30 acres of land.

Source - TOI, Surat.

Also small update from my side.
Hotel Ginger is already operational since few months.
Iscon mega mall of which the construction was stopped, is now back on track, also TGB's Club located at their 5star hotel will start soon.

And Imperial mall(pics are there posted by me on previous pages) has some changes in planning, its now purchased by mumbai based group along with partnership with Surat based group, Rahul Raj and now will be called Rahul Raj Mall. They are already coming up with big textile market called Rahul Raj textile city in Saroli area. The whole exterior of the mal now will be changed and proposed one will be real good looking, also it will have mall type shops as well as high street shops which will have direct access from road side which does better in India than malls, also the upper floors will be offices and the 8screen PVR multiplex will remain and will be operational in short time.
After purchasing it, the group sold majority properties in a single day with some attractive yet profitable rates so we expect this property which was unoperational since long to be ready in few months.

This is some details of Rahul Raj Textile City coming up at Saroli area of the city.

RAHULRAJ TEXTILE CITY
A CITY WITHIN A CITY………………….

Introducing India’s most modern, well-connected city within Surat.
Exclusive for Textile Business.

India’s first world-class Textile city opens its doors to you.
It’s a pioneering destination that connects you to every resource, every network, every market you’ll ever need to be competitive in your Textile Business.
It’s a city within a city.
Welcome to RahulRaj Textile City.

Located in central Surat, this first-of-its kind hub for Textile business is wired to almost every possible resource you can think of.

Textile mills, processing and ancillaries units. Banking, transport and infrastructure facilities. All within easy reach of your work space at RahulRaj Textile City.

First project in India equipped with 28 Goods Lifts which bring Tempos, material right in to your Textile House. High ceiling, air -conditioned Textile Market on ground floor. Hi-tech & Hi-speed fleet of Passanger Lifts and Escalators.

SGCCI wants state to increase its aid for fast completion of Sarsana complex

Quote:

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a newly-constructed state-of-the-art dome-shaped pillar-less Surat International Exhibition and Convention Centre(SGECC) at Sarsana last Friday in Surat. However this centre is just one of the three building that are planned in Sarsana campus. Rest of the two buildings of auditorium, multi-purpose hall and Centre for excellence are yet to be constructed. And to complete the works of these two buildings, the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry has demanded state to increase its aid.

Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry had signed an MOU with the Gujarat government for this convention centre in year 2003 during Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit. Now this Rs 64 crore International Convention Centre is standing over 1.16 lac square meter land.

Leading Textile industrialist of Surat Shri Arun Jariwala, one of the men behind this centre says the convention centre is not just made out of steel and cement but it is the hard work of 40,000 members of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry(SGCCI) that has made this centre. Jariwala said the state government has decided to contribute 10% cost of this trade centre which will come at Rs 7 crore. But instead of 10% if the state is ready to contribute 15%, the SGCCI would complete the works of second and third buildings(auditorium, multi-purpose hall and Centre for excellence building) within next 15 months period.

Jariwala said when the chamber representatives went to the Chief Minister with a proposal of centre, the Chief Minister asked to build it at par with Taiwan Convention centre. Today the centre is ready and it is not less than the trade centre of Germany, Dubai or China in any regard.

Narrating the origination of idea of this centre, he said when ex-Commissioner of Surat Municipal Corporation Shri Jagdishan went to Central Commerce ministry as an officer, he approved four clusters for Gujarat and provided Rs 200 crore for Gems and Jewelery Cluster. As this project could not be completed under prescribed cluster, they transferred the fund to Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries for Convention centre.

NPCIL - L&T JV:Foundation stone laid in Surat

Quote:

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a Government of India company, and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), an engineering, manufacturing & construction major, have laid the foundation stone for their steel manufacturing & heavy forging plant here, an official release said Saturday.

At the ceremony in Surat, NPCIL and L&T said the new, fully integrated facility will help develop India’s capabilities in manufacturing critical components for the nuclear power and other core sector industries.

The state-of-the-art facility will be one of the best of its kind in the world. It will have the capability to produce ingots weighing up to 600 MT each, and a heavy forge shop equipped with a forging press which will be amongst the largest in the world.

The facility will supply finished forgings for nuclear reactors, pressurizers & steam generators, in addition to heavy forgings for critical equipment in the hydrocarbon sector, as well as for thermal power plants and steel plants. Direct access to a water front at Hazira will facilitate multi-modal transportation and exports.

With the addition of this forge facility, L&T’s Hazira Manufacturing Complex will enter an exclusive club of manufacturers with an integrated capability covering the entire range - from melting of steel to finished equipment.

Indigenous manufacture of forgings will close a critical gap in Indian industry’s capability to produce equipment for nuclear, thermal power and hydrocarbon plants. It will enable significant reduction in cycle times.

Considering the thrust on infrastructure growth in India, and the global nuclear renaissance, the market potential for such forgings is expected to remain strong over the long term.

The new facility fits in with L&T’s commitment to remain at the forefront of manufacturing technology across key sectors.

Operating at the higher end of the technology spectrum, over the years, L&T has introduced new products & processes into Indian industry. In critical sectors such as space research, nuclear and thermal power, defence and hydrocarbons.

L&T’s manufacturing facilities have met the challenges of technology, quality conformance and delivery, while ensuring the highest value to its customers.

L&T and NPCIL had announced the formation of a joint venture company to produce special steels and ultra heavy forgings on Nov 30, 2009.

SURAT: Are you a morning or evening walker who is bored of walking on the same road everyday and would love to explore a new avenue? There's good news for you. Surat Municipal Corporation has mooted a proposal to build a 3 km long walkway on the left side of Tapi riverbank.

Sources said the proposal will come up for approval on the agenda of the standing committee on Thursday afternoon.
Sharing the plans with TOI, standing committee chairman Mukesh Dalal said, "The proposed walkway, to be built within a year, will come up on the stretch between Swami Vivekananda Bridge and Sardar Bridge and will go up to Hotel Gateway at the end of the road. The total cost involved in the two segments will be Rs 6.69 crore."

SMC also plans to set up a food plaza, seating facility for people among other projects on the sides of the proposed walkway to beautify as well as facilitate the walkers.

"Once ready, this walkway will provide ideal facility for morning and evening walkers of the city. There will also be a parking facility at Sardar Bridge, Hotel Gateway and Swami Vivekanand Bridge," he added.

In another major development, a 7.7 km stretch of road under Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project at a cost of Rs 71.63 crore has also been proposed for approval.

BRTS is another much awaited dream project of SMC. Of the total cost of Rs 469 crore, this year SMC plans to spend about Rs 190 crore in financial year 2010-11.

Sources said to develop the canal corridor, the work will be undertaken in two segments. In the first segment, 8.7 km from Dumas resort to Kharwarnagar junction. The approval has already been given for this segment, which will cost Rs 105 crore. The approvals for the second segment of Kharwarnagar to Simada junction of 7.7 km stretch is being sought. The cost for this segment is estimated at Rs 71.63 crore. Meanwhile, the third and the shortest segment will be from Simada junction to Sarthana at a cost of Rs 35.67 crore. This segment will be 3.3 km long.

"This cost will cover development and construction of CC road, tar road, bus lane, carriage way, cycle track, activity area on both the sides, service, utility and canal lining and development," Dalal said.

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They should do something like the Sabarmati River Front Development on the Tapti River. Looks strange in some spots.

Just quickly made a messy example. Would this be possible, the Tapti Riverfront Redevelopment . The Tapti is about 1000ms wide it some spots, so I didn't know if you could reduce some parts of the river from 1000m to 260m. Those beigeish are areas that could be used to build walkways, parks, shops/restaurants, apartments. The same could be done on the other side of the peninsula.

Before:
[IMG]http://i39.************/e87llh.jpg[/IMG]

After:
[IMG]http://i42.************/2mowf46.jpg[/IMG]

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Well yes its done by SCET engg college and the road pictured is old but a approach road before actual Suvali road, the road which actually leads to Suvali is like you can easily digest your food, too bad, too narrow, more big rocks than land area, tree bushes around you, even if you are at bike more chances are that those bushes might disturb you. In short its typical Jungle type but its adventurous actually.

This sort of development is welcome but if its done in time or not is to be seen.
@India101, this article is of 6th April, 2010.
Although hotels, malls,golf course, etc seems to be too unrealistic untill some private player enters Suvali soon.
But even basic amenities and some water sports should be adequate too, we dont want anything like Miami but we are happy even with Diu let alone Goa.

Thanks guys. Sounds really interesting. To be honest I really didn't think Gujarat had any goo beaches. On Google Earth nothing seems to be there.

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Thanks guys. Sounds really interesting. To be honest I really didn't think Gujarat had any goo beaches. On Google Earth nothing seems to be there.

There are some good beaches, just generally not as well known as Goa, Kerala etc, I think thats why there is a move to develop them and publicise them more.

I remember this article from December that was posted in the main Gujarat Projects thread (Link here)
mentioned that GMB (Gujarat Maritime Board) intended to develop Savli (Suvali?) beach near Surat. Would assume this is a follow up to that news, as they said that at that point, they were still to appoint a development consultant for the project.

As BlueSapphire said, the private sector has to be involved if this project is to be done to the best standard, would imagine that this is probably going to end up being a PPP project rather as GMB is a Govt offshoot.

Estimated Rs 200Cr to be spent in total on the 2 Beaches at Surat (Dumas being the other) and 2 others elsewhere in the state.

Just quickly made a messy example. Would this be possible, the Tapti Riverfront Redevelopment . The Tapti is about 1000ms wide it some spots, so I didn't know if you could reduce some parts of the river from 1000m to 260m. Those beigeish are areas that could be used to build walkways, parks, shops/restaurants, apartments. The same could be done on the other side of the peninsula.

Are you a morning or evening walker who is bored of walking on the same road everyday and would love to explore a new avenue? There's good news for you. Surat Municipal Corporation has mooted a proposal to build a 3 km long walkway on the left side of Tapi riverbank.

Sources said the proposal will come up for approval on the agenda of the standing committee on Thursday afternoon.

Sharing the plans with TOI, standing committee chairman Mukesh Dalal said, "The proposed walkway, to be built within a year, will come up on the stretch between Swami Vivekananda Bridge and Sardar Bridge and will go up to Hotel Gateway at the end of the road. The total cost involved in the two segments will be Rs 6.69 crore."

SMC also plans to set up a food plaza, seating facility for people among other projects on the sides of the proposed walkway to beautify as well as facilitate the walkers.

Interestingly, I found these pics that are clearly a plan for the area between Vivekanand Bridge and Nehru Bridge (rather than Sardar Bridge), themed as "Healing the Nucleus" by SCET (same college that are behind the development plan for Suvali Beach)

If this is anything more than an Academic project, this raises a few questions, ie, Is this the actual plan and did the newspaper article just name the wrong bridge? Or, is this a seperate plan, meaning that two seperate stretches are going to be developed?

(BTW, the same article also has some info on the Surat BRTS, which I have posted in the relevent thread.)

Thanks for all the updates guys. Is Tapi a seasonal river or a perennial one?

If planned on the lines of Sabarmati project, there shoould be separate zones for highrises, parks and recreation areas etc. This would render a beautiful waterfront skyline to Surat. What's your opinion?